


Col. Wemm's Personal Log

by Sir Tristan (Jorb)



Category: XCOM: Enemy Within
Genre: First Person, Gen, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-10-10 10:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 7,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10435788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jorb/pseuds/Sir%20Tristan
Summary: Excerpts from the journal of XCOM soldier Col. Tristan Wemm during his time on base.





	1. March 15, 2015

**Author's Note:**

> This is an in-character journal for a self-named solider in Sarinn0013's Impossible Ironman XCOM playthrough, [as seen here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31z7uJHnzI0&;index=1&;list=PLyv-YHqJ0DFmaDYEZFnYPDTGq0GWnDd9B). Many mission writeups featuring this soldier are absent, as they were simply never written at the time, and they vary wildly in tone, length, and writing style. Don't expect anything consistent.

Pvt. Wemm's Personal Log, March 15, 2015

When I joined XCOM, I knew that things would be dangerous... but after seeing everyone get back from Operation Lazy Crone, barely in one piece, I've got to admit that I'm a bit apprehensive about heading out on my own first missions. I'm less worried about spending a week in medbay as I am about gaining any additional orifices in my body... then again, I suppose that's at least better than being KIA. It's a tough job, fighting the aliens, but somebody's gotta do it. Hopefully once we get some better equipment and more experience under our belt, things will start looking up. Until then, though, I think I may have to ask Commander Sarinn if he'll let me bring a Medkit on my first op...


	2. April 7, 2015

Pvt. Wemm's Personal Log, April 7, 2015

Looks like everyone got back safely from Operation Sacred Shield. Good to know the mortality rate is getting lower, especially since I've been hearing whisperings about how I might be 'the next rookie' scheduled for missions. I am still pretty nervous, but seeing as how Pvt. Wolf and Pvt. Coleopter's biggest complaints when they got back to base seemed to be being sent to practice at the firing range for four hours, rather than any injuries, I am feeling a bit better about things than I was befo-

Well, it looks like I'm actually going to have to end this entry right here, because it seems like my time is up sooner than I thought! I've just got a few minutes to get ready and then head to the Skyranger. I can only hope that this won't be my final entry...


	3. April 7, 2015 (Continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god I'm so sorry this is so needlessly descriptive

Pvt. Wemm's Personal Log, April 7, 2015 (Continued)

Well, I made it through my first mission today. And although I'm currently sitting in medbay in intense agony, I'm actually pretty happy with how the mission went (all things considered).

So after my last entry a few hours ago, I had to rush to the Skyranger and meet up with the rest of the people I was deploying with. I met up with Pvt. Demon and Pvt. Coleopter (I still don't know where they're from, I've never heard of names like that before), and found out that we were apparently being led by Cpl. Wolf. That put me a bit at ease, since he was the highest ranking soldier not currently in medbay. Pvt. Demon got a standard frag grenade, Pvt. Coleopter got a flashbang, Cpl. Wolf got the medkit I'd hoped to bring myself, and I got some kind of vest, apparently made of nanofibers or something. I'll admit, I was a little miffed at first, but in the end I'm pretty glad I got that vest.

Anyway, we all hopped in the Skyranger, and set off on Operation Empty Vengeance. Turns out we were heading out all the way to Delhi, India, where apparently there were alien abductions happening at a construction site. Naturally, we had to go sort things out. When we arrived at the site, Pvt. Demon spotted a couple of those "Seekers" from Operation Sacred Shield, which vanished right away. So naturally, we all held our ground, kept our eyes open, and waited for them to show up. I've gotta tell you, it was tense. I'm pretty sure we couldn't have been waiting more than a minute, but at the time it felt like hours. If we so much as blinked at the wrong time, one of us could have ended up strangled.

The first Seeker showed up, and Wolf, Demon, and Coleopter got him. I'd completely missed it, not even realizing it was there until the others had already shot it. Cpl. Wolf told me to pay better attention or someone could get hurt. I'm still not sure if that was a threat or if he was just concerned about the squad's well-being (though I choose to believe the latter). By the time the second one showed itself I was more on the ball. Demon took the first shot, then Coleopter and I finished it off. I asked Cpl. Wolf why he was the one not paying attention that time. He told me to be quiet.

Once the Seekers were out of the way, I headed around some of the nearby shipping containers to get a better look. I ended up finding a pack of "Floaters" on a raised area nearby... unfortunately, they also found ME, and started heading down towards me. I called out to the rest of the squad, and they ran right over. Coleopter threw a smoke grenade to give us some better cover, while Demon just killed a Floater outright. Cpl. Wolf on the other hand tried to run around and see if he could flank them.

Unfortunately, we forgot something very important: Floaters can fly. One of them got behind us, while another one flew right up to me and shot me square in the chest. Let me tell you, when I signed up for XCOM, I was a bit afraid that I might end up with a bullet in me, but I think that might have been more enjoyable than being hit with searing hot plasma. Honestly, if not for that vest, I think I might have died right then and there. The agony was unbearable, but I couldn't give up. I've seen what happens when soldiers panic in the field, and it usually isn't pretty. I quickly got out of there, and even tried taking a shot back at the Floater, but I was so woozy from my injury that I couldn't shoot straight at all. Turns out though that Demon and Coleopter still could, and they managed to save my hide. I'm pretty sure that if those two hadn't stepped in, that vest wasn't going to save me from another shot of plasma from that Floater. I can honestly say I owe them my life. You can bet that when I get out of here, I'm buying them both a round of drinks (along with whatever engineer built that vest, I think).

There was still another Floater around, and I tried to get a shot off, but another spasm of pain shooting up my body threw my shot completely off. Cpl. Wolf noticed, and ran over with that beautiful, beautiful medkit. He told me to man up and get back out there. I protested, saying that I'd almost died and that he should cut me some slack, but he wouldn't have any of it. He just told me that right now, it was just the four of us against those aliens out here, and one of us giving up wouldn't do humanity any favors. I begrudgingly agreed, and told him I'd work on my aim. At least the medkit had some decent painkillers.

While that was all going on, Coleopter took out the other Floater that I'd missed, and Cpl. Wolf told us to reload and head towards where the Floaters had come from. I heard some more aliens moving around out there, and wouldn't you know it, another pack of Floaters showed up! I took a shot at 'em, but missed. Again. At least everyone else did as well, so I don't have to feel quite as bad. Demon ran back to the shipping containers and took a shot, but missed. We ended up pulling back a little bit into a better position, and Cpl. Wolf threw down another smoke grenade to keep us safer.

Of course, another Floater flew right in behind us, flanking the entire group, while another took a shot at Demon. Demon didn't have a vest, but lucky for him, the thing missed and hit the shipping container. Coleopter came up behind the Floater that tried to flank us and got a good shot, and Demon turned and finished it off. Cpl. Wolf ran around the side and shot the other one, and I followed behind him. Turns out he didn't need my help, though, because he dodged the next shot and took it out. After that things seemed to calm down a little, so we took the opportunity to reload and get to better cover.

That quiet didn't last very long. I remembered seeing three Floaters when they first flew up, but we'd only killed two. I'd been wondering where the other one had gone, but that question quickly answered itself, as the missing Floater flew in. Demon took a shot, but it was moving too fast for him to hit it. Once it had stopped moving, he got another good shot in, and Coleopter finished it off. We were now eight aliens down, but we weren't done. There were still strange sounds coming from the other side of the construction site, so of course we had to go check it out.

We began climbing the raised building in the middle, to see if we could get the drop on those things when we found them. Cpl. Wolf lead the way, scouting things out to see if it was safe for the rest of us to advance. When he ran up to the edge of the roof, he called back to us, saying he'd found some more aliens. I can tell you they were nothing like the other one's I'd seen so far, though. They looked so human... and yet, there was something... off... about them. Something about the way they moved, I think. They were still quite clearly alien... it was generally rather unsettling.

Demon ran up to the edge of the roof and threw his grenade. One of them got caught right in the middle of the blast, and Cpl. Wolf ended up putting the wounded alien down. I ran up next, and stared at the alien still standing down there, its cover blown by Demon's grenade. It was completely out in the open. For the entire mission, I'd been doing almost nothing except getting hit, and missing shots. I knew this was my chance to redeem myself. I took the shot.

The alien seemed to explode. Within a matter of moments, the alien's body was seemingly replaced by a giant cloud of gas. Cpl. Wolf clapped me on the back and told me that maybe there was hope for me yet. Coleopter ran up too, just in time for us to get shot at by the remaining alien. Luckily, he missed. After that, Coleopter actually jumped all the way down and threw his flashbang at the alien - pretty gutsy, I've gotta say. That alien had no idea what was coming to it. All that was left at this point was to finish it off. Cpl. Wolf and Demon got good hits on it, with Demon using his pistol due to the range, while I... missed again. I'm gonna have to head down to the shooting range myself sometime, I think.

The thing wasn't quite ready to die yet, though, and he spit some of that gas over to Coleopter, which seemed to poison him. It didn't end up being too much of an issue, though, because Cpl. Wolf was able to take out that last alien, called it in, and we headed back to base. It was about time, too, the painkillers from that medkit were starting to wear off, and Coleopter needed that poison dealt with.

All in all, despite my getting injured and lack of aim, we managed to take out eleven aliens this mission, and nobody died. Sure, I ended up here in medbay, but the docs say I'll recover just fine and should be out in about a week. At least I didn't gain any new orifices in my body.

I've heard that Demon got promoted to Corporal, too. That guy did pretty well out there today, and got some good solid hits. I hope I can fight alongside him in the future, if I'm lucky. Whoops, hang on, looks like I've got a visitor.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Cpl. Wolf dropped by! I thought he didn't like me that much during our mission, but apparently he was impressed by my shot on that "Thin Man" (as we're apparently now calling them) - after all, I was the only one that mission to kill one in a single shot. He said he'd put in a good word for me, and said I should be expecting some better weapons in my next deployment... I think he said something about a rocket launcher? That should be pretty sweet.

I noticed he was wearing a medal on his uniform, too. Said Commander Sarinn gave it to him. Well, I guess he did manage to prevent me from keeling over while I was out there, which I guess ended up letting me get that shot on that Thin Man, so I guess he deserves it. You know, I didn't really like him that much at the start, but he's actually a pretty alright guy. May have to buy him a drink sometime as well. Sheesh, that's already four people I have to buy drinks for... my poor wallet.

Anyway, I think that's about enough for this entry. Looking back through here I feel like I've written a small novel, and my painkillers are starting to wear off too. Hopefully I'll be back in action soon, because I can't wait to try out that rocket launcher...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be referring to both Rookies and Squaddies as being Privates in my entries, because neither Rookie nor Squaddie is really a real rank, so I went with the next best thing (obviously Corporal and above are real ranks so those I'll keep).


	4. April 9, 2015

Pvt. Wemm's Personal Log, April 9, 2015

Everyone got back from Operation Soaring Jester a little while ago, and just like last mission, there was only one injury. What I wasn't expecting was the injured soldier to be Sgt. Wolf, and for him to take the bed directly across from me! Looks like he got banged up pretty bad, docs say it should be almost two weeks until he gets out of here. Says he got hit by a plasma blast like me, though for some reason I feel like he's not telling me the whole story of it. Probably doesn't matter too much, though.

From what he tells me, the mission he was on was extremely intense. Said they had to escort some survivor of a convoy raid to safety, and the entire time they were fighting Thin Men, just waves of 'em. Said there had to be at least a dozen, maybe more. Considering my aim, it's probably for the best I was in medbay during that mission... that many aliens just means more chances to miss and screw the rest of the team over because of it.

Still, as much I don't like seeing the other soldiers get hurt, it is nice to have some company when you're confined to a bed. I told him I'd buy him that drink if we're ever both not in medbay at the same time, although I said I wasn't sure that was likely to ever happen. Not even sure he heard me though, he keeps fading in and out of consciousness from all the meds he's on right now. Hopefully once we get out of here we can settle the score with those aliens.


	5. April 21, 2015

Pvt. Wemm's Personal Log, April 21, 2015

In the infirmary again. That seems to be the case for all of my missions so far. The mission didn't go as well as last time, after all there's a few more people in here with me this time, since Lt. Demon and Goliyth took hits too. Although, considering what we got from the mission, and the promises we've been getting, perhaps it may have all been worth it.

When the mission started, I was heading out with Goliyth, Uhope, Lt. Demon and the at-the-time Cpl. Roxy out on Operation Devil's Paramour. Seeing as Goliyth was packing one of those Arc Throwers, as well as who we were meeting, I'd say it was pretty aptly named. I think I may have annoyed a few of the guys on the Skyranger talking about how excited I was to get to use an LMG, but whatever. Thing ended up being pretty heavy and hard to aim, but it does sure pack a punch when it hits.

After we landed in Chongqing, we headed to where we were supposed to meet our contact. Apparently we were meeting him in a graveyard, which seemed kind of spooky. I'd heard the guy we were meeting was from the Triads, so I was a little antsy to finish the mission and get out of there as fast as possible. I'll be honest, the guy makes me nervous. Heck, even when we first met him, I ended up standing at the back of the group, along with Goliyth. Almost right after he acknowledges us, he ends up pulling a gun, and shooting a Sectoid that was right behind us that we didn't even notice, and then dramatically tossed it away, for... some reason. "Not so different from killing a man," he said. Yeek.

Central confirmed that he was our man, so we had to escort him back to the Skyranger. We knew there were aliens around now, so we spread out a bit to cover the locations they might appear at. A Thin Man dropped down in front of us, which most of us shot at, but one dropped in behind us, which only Goliyth noticed at first. He took a shot at it and weakened it, and he said this might be our chance to capture the thing. Some of the guys took shots with their pistols to get it down even further, and distracted it while Goliyth moved up with the Arc Thrower, and zapped the thing right down to the ground.

After that, we paused for a moment to reload, then started moving up. We told Zhang to stay behind at first so we could secure the immediate area. It has to be said, though, that using tombstones as cover is a little scary... after all, you end up staring in the face the possibility that you might not return home.

It wasn't long until a couple more Thin Men dropped down on us. We took out one right away, and the other one followed not long after. They weren't about to let up, though, as right after we took it out, a third one showed up, which Goliyth and Sgt. Roxy took out. We were doing pretty well, and we took a moment to wait until all the poison clouds dispersed and we could move on.

We started moving up, and what did we find but two more Thin Men. The others had to run up to get in range of them and into decent cover if we were to have a hope of fighting them. Well, ok, Sgt. Roxy didn't move up, but she was pretty content in her sniping nest. Anyway, one of the Thin Men came up closer and shot a cloud of poison at Lt. Demon, but Sgt. Roxy took it out with a shot right between the eyes. Bam, checkmate. It was a really nice shot, actually, and I've heard that's why they promoted her to Sergeant in the first place.

Lt. Demon ran out to get a better look and draw the remaining alien's fire. The rest of us tried moving up too, but it was hard to get around without going through the poison. Poor Goliyth had to run straight through one to get to a better position. To try and improve our position, I ended up tossing a flashbang at the thing, while Uhope dropped some smoke on us, and we told Zhang it was probably ok to start moving up.

At this point we were getting pretty confident. The Thin Men were going down pretty fast, after all, and we were ready to take on a few more. Then Central chimed in and told us there was some kind of weird contact closing in on us, something different. We didn't know what it was at the time, but we knew it probably wouldn't be good. We saw another Thin Man drop down, which Sgt. Roxy took down with little effort, but it didn't seem likely that was it. While we were waiting for the thing to show itself, Lt. Demon fragged the other Thin Man's cover so that Uhope could get off a good shot on it. After that, there wasn't much left to do but wait for our mystery alien.

Up to that point, most of the aliens we'd seen had been fairly small, either from the half-bodies of the Floaters, the slenderness of the Thin Men, or the general size and physical frailty of the Sectoids. You can imagine our surprise when we saw some crazy green thing charging at us with hulked out muscles and a huge gun. It took a shot at Goliyth, but fortunately it missed. If it had hit, though, I'm pretty sure it would have just killed him. So, we weren't feeling too great, but we knew we had to take the crazy mutant alien down.

I finally got a chance to use that rocket launcher of mine and shot a rocket at the thing to soften it up. Lt. Demon then ran up, pulled out his Shotgun, and, bam, the thing went down! Thing was pretty tough, though. I mean, it withstood the full force of a rocket blast and was still standing, and took a solid hit from a shotgun before it finally keeled over. I'd say I hope we don't have to fight any more of them, but I'd be kidding myself if I really believed that would happen.

With the mutant ton of alien flesh now lying firmly on the ground, we were starting to get pretty close to the Skyranger. Just as we thought we were home free, though, a couple more aliens dropped down, this time a Thin Man and a Sectoid. Lt. Demon took out the Thin Man, while Goliyth tried to run into a better position to shoot the Sectoid, unfortunately, the Sectoid decided to shoot first, and hit Goliyth pretty bad, so bad that he couldn't even follow through with his shot. I took a shot at the alien myself, and I hurt it pretty bad. It couldn't have been any better off that Goliyth by that point, and it backed off a little. Unfortunately, the cheeky little thing had the gall to take another shot at Goliyth, who went down. Sgt. Roxy, Uhope and Zhang panicked a little at that, and I honestly don't blame them, but the rest of us kept it together. We knew that if we wanted to save Goliyth, we had to stay cool and take down this alien.

Eventually, the Sectoid made the fatal mistake of moving out of its cover, and my bullets hit their mark and took the thing down. Once it was down, everyone calmed down a little, though we were still a bit shaken about what happened to Goliyth. We started dashing for the Skyranger, while Uhope moved to stabilize Goliyth. One last Thin Man decided to show itself, but by that point we'd all had about enough of their nonsense, and we took it down, and got everyone including Goliyth and the Thin Man he stunned back to the Skyranger.

After we got back, Sgt. Roxy got her promotion, while Lt. Demon, Goliyth and myself ended up in medbay. We got Zhang out of there, with whatever the alien device he brought back is. Apparently Zhang himself is going to be joining XCOM as a soldier fighting alongside us. I'm not sure how I feel about that, considering his background, but at least he has a good taste in weaponry, I'll give him that. Maybe he liked my rocket shot? Who knows. Kind of annoying that he got to be a freakin' Lieutenant right away, while I'm still a Private. I mean, that hardly seems fair. Well, whatever. I'll hit Lieutenant soon enough, and rub it in his face! Well, assuming he's not a Major or something crazy like that by then. Ugh, I don't even want to think about that.

Meanwhile, I hear that Sgt. Wolf's surgery is going well. I'm still a bit squeamish about the idea of getting your arms and legs chopped off and replaced, but supposedly he's going to end up piloting a giant robo-suit, so if it ends up working we should have quite an edge against the aliens. I guess we'll find out in a couple of days. We could probably use his help in doing... whatever it is the things we recovered are supposed to do.


	6. June 29, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's like 5 missing mission journals between the last one and this spanning like two in-universe months lmao

Cpt. Wemm's Personal Log, June 29, 2015

What a mission that last one was, assaulting the alien's own base! I'll be honest, I wish I could have been there myself, but considering how well the mission went, I can hardly complain about the squad that went. Col. Roxy, Maj. Wolf, Maj. Less, Maj. Desmons, Cpt. Squires, and Sgt. Couch... you've done us all proud today. I hear we've not only taken out their leader, but we've managed to get some kind of device of theirs. Not sure what it does, but it sure looks important.

What really gets me is the Sectoid Commander. I've heard rumors that it might be the same alien met during first contact, and if true, then it seems like we've got a foe that can use some kind of... mind control, if the old mission tapes are accurate. I've heard that Vahlen's team has been taking a look at the thing's body, and have ideas on how we might be able to get powers like that ourselves. Honestly, I think it's crazy. If humans had the power to control minds, I'm pretty sure we'd have figured that out by now. Though, I have to admit, if it DOES turn out to be true... well, I wouldn't mind giving it a go. Could be fun.


	7. July 10, 2015

Maj. Wemm's Personal Log, July 10, 2015

Phew, had to spend a few hours unwinding after the last mission before writing this, I'm all tense from how close we all came to death in that last op... and it wouldn't have just been us, either, it would have been a good part of Moscow, too.

Guess I should start from the beginning. I deployed out to Moscow on a mission to dispose of an alien bomb, along with Maj. Less, Shirt, Gnat, Orianna, and Shrike. Things were tense right away, because we had a time limit to work with. If we couldn't find and disarm the bomb before it went off, well, it shouldn't need to be said what would have happened. I don't think I've actually been on a mission with any real time limit since Empty Vengeance, and that was just for Meld countdowns, which we were in no real position to deal with at the time. I suppose maybe there was Black Dream, but that was more "save civvies before they get killed" rather than "you have this much time until detonation".

For some reason the aliens decided it would be a good idea to set up their bomb in a cemetery. It seemed weird at first, but it was a central location, without a lot of people around, so in hindsight I guess it kind of makes sense. Scattered around the place were smaller little green things, Shen called 'em 'power nodes', that were charging up the bomb. Made the bomb harder to defuse since they were scattered all over the place, but at the same time allowed us to give ourselves extra time, because each one we shut down meant longer until full charge.

We wandered around a bit at first, looking for the bomb, and shutting down a power node or two, and eventually we ran into some Thin Men (the first of many). A couple of 'em clustered up, so I got to bag a triple kill with a rocket. Never get tired of those. Come to think of it, there were lots of explosions going on in that first group of x-rays... Orianna fired a bunch of shots to take out some cover, and Shirt threw one of those alien grenades. Kind of ironic, that we were fighting to stop an explosion with more explosions.

Gnat also tossed a mimic beacon at one point, which made all the Thin Men huddle around it, totally out of cover. Gotta say, that thing probably saved our hides a couple of times today, when aliens were too busy running around to shoot us.

After some pushing, we eventually made it up to the bomb. Gnat insisted on being the one to defuse it, after all it was her homeland at stake. There must have been some crazy stuff going on with the wiring (or whatever the aliens had in there), because it took Gnat a bit of time to shut the thing down... almost too much time, if the amount of panic in Shen's voice was any indication by the end. What is this, anyway, some kind of action movie where the bomb isn't defused until the last second? Hopefully the hero doesn't die at the end to save everyone or some cliched nonsense like that (not really sure who the 'hero' here would be though... lot of heroes in this squad).

'Course, the aliens weren't so happy we shut off their toy, so they came running, presumably to turn it back on or something. Couple of us were still a little shaken by the bomb almost exploding in our faces, though, so we missed a whole lot when they first came out. At least, that's what I assume happened. I'm not gonna ask the others, and even if I did, they probably wouldn't admit it.

It ended up being that beacon of Gnat's that saved the day. Apparently it was still working, cause the aliens just ran right past us straight to where it was, by which point we'd regained our composure enough to knock 'em all down. After that, we made sure the bomb tech wouldn't end up in the hands of random civvies, piled back in the Skyranger, and headed back to base.

Gotta say, the mission got pretty down to the wire, but it sure got my adrenaline pumping. Makes me kind of excited for my next mission, but at the same time I also kind of want to just stay in bed for a few days. Guess I should probably give Maj. Desmons a chance to head out again soon. After all, I'm catching up on her kill record, and I can't imagine she'll be too pleased with that...


	8. July 18, 2015

Maj. Wemm's Personal Log, July 18, 2015

Jesus fucking christ!

Sorry, I just needed to get that off my chest. I'm still in shock a bit after all that just happened. I mean, we'd thought we'd wiped out the main alien base back at the end of June. Sure, we'd been fighting aliens since, but I'd always figured they were more of scattered remnants. Apparently not so much, since they were able to organize a massive attack right on our home turf.

Honestly, I've felt so powerless for the last few hours - trapped behind a closed door with no power, and no way to get to anyone else. Heck, if I'd at least had my gear on me at the time I could have blown a hole in the wall and gone to help. I mean, I'd probably get a serious chewing out for that, but at least I could have done SOMETHING aside from wait the whole thing out.

From what I've managed to gather so far, it was Colonels Roxy and Wolf, as well as Majors Demon, Less, Coyote, and Laurent fighting out there, plus some of the base security personnel. Er, I guess I should make that Col. Demon and Col. Less... I guess after all the work put into the defense of the base, the Commander saw fit to promote 'em. Can't say I disagree with his decision, those two are some real good soldiers. Still, I wish I could have been there, I wish I could have helped... if nothing else, it means Laurent's a few kills further ahead now. What's she at now, 37? I've got a lot of catching up to do.

The other thing that bugs me is that apparently the aliens managed to mind control damn near half the base somehow. I just don't understand it though. In the experience we've had so far with mind control it's been one alien mind controlling one person, and usually from not too far away. But this was tons of people, with no aliens in sight (well, before they started pouring into the base, anyway). It's been bugging Central and the Doctors too from what I've heard. Hopefully we manage to figure this one out.

Honestly, though, at the moment I'm just more glad that we managed to pull through. I shudder to imagine what would have happened had the aliens shut us down here. Would they take over the world? Would they destroy it? Who knows? All these months and we still don't really know what their goal is, though it can't be good. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking about this right now. After all, I still have to go congratulate those who helped with the defense, and pay my respects to those who didn't make it. Oh, and I guess I should tell Laurent I still plan on beating her record, too. No way I'm losing that bet!


	9. July 20, 2015

Maj. Wemm's Personal Log, July 20, 2015

I think I might end up losing that bet.

Laurent's a Colonel now, and I'm still stuck at Major. I mean, Major's certainly not a bad rank, but... I've got some catching up to do. I think we're 39 to 32 now, her favor. There were tons of promotions given out after today's mission, actually. Come to think of it, the only people who weren't promoted were Col. Roxy, and... myself. Great. I still blame the EXALT gun. Lousy traitors set up their guns all weird. May have to ask the Commander about switching back to a regular XCOM Heavy Laser. I can work those no problem.

As for today's terror mission, Operation First Summer (which is a weird name considering summer officially started an entire month ago now) can pretty much be summed up in one word: rockets. Between Col. Desmons (can't believe I have to call her by rank again), Blade and myself, I don't think there were many aliens that DIDN'T get a rocket to the face. For as much competition as I have going with Col. Desmons, it's kinda nice to end up fighting side by side. A little reminder that we're still on the same team every now and then doesn't hurt.

Honestly, I think that bet with Col. Desmons might have been one of the best things I've done during my time here at XCOM (at least as far as my activity around the base is concerned). I mean, sure, I'm losing pretty badly right now and it'll be tricky to catch up, but before I didn't really talk to the others soldiers that much, generally keeping to myself for the most part. Maybe chatting with some of the others here and there and finding out how missions went, but I never spent too much time with the other soldiers, doubly so after Zhang died. Honestly, I still have nightmares about that to this day.

But now, after starting this little competition, I've started talking to Col. Desmons... then by extension I start getting to know Nat... and then from there the next thing I know I'm off drinking with everyone after the mission's over. I never even noticed half the crazy stuff that happens around base before. I mean, SHIV riding? That's just crazy! ...Although, I may have to try participating sometime, seems like it would be my kind of crazy.

After all of this getting to know my fellow soldiers... I think I wouldn't mind too badly if I lost the bet. I'm already pretty happy with how things have turned out. ...Not that I intend to stop trying to win, of course! Even if it's far-fetched, I'm still going to give it my all! After all, it'd be pretty boring otherwise! Gives me something to fight for out there (well, y'know, in addition to the whole 'protecting all of humanity' thing we've got going on). So you'd better pay attention to those kill counts, Laurent, because while I may be down, I'm certainly not out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha wow this one turned out kind of sappy, but that's ok


	10. July 30, 2015

Maj. Wemm's Personal Log, July 30, 2015

It's been quiet for the last week or so, aside from all the usual antics going on at base. Much to my surprise, I managed to briefly set a new record for SHIV riding, 27 seconds. Even more to my surprise, my record ended up being broken by none other than the Commander himself. But hey, at least I beat Laurent for a bit, right?

The mission today went alright. Another EXALT op, nothing really too different from the other ones I've been on, although I still can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn... I really need a different gun. At least I managed to get two kills this mission, but if this keeps up Laurent's going to end up being fifty ahead of me before long. I've gotta step up my game, or I'll never live it down, not to mention never make Colonel.

At least we're making more progress towards finding EXALT's base. The actual intel seems like it's getting less specific and less useful, but even so there's only a few countries left it could be in. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being in Canada or Mexico - they're both countries that withdrew from the council so I imagine the people there aren't too happy with us here at XCOM, plus they're both close enough that there'd be sufficient irony in them turning out to be in our backyard the whole time. And really, it seems like it would be just the kind of thing that would happen to us.

At least we're still barreling ahead in our research. With the plasma guns we've already got, along with the better MECs, and the advanced armor I hear the research team is working on, with any luck we might end up being able to actually match the aliens' tech for once. I've love to see the looks on their faces when we come in swinging decked out all with plasma guns. Or EXALT's faces, for that matter. Haven't seen them with any plasma at all. Then again, they've mainly been fighting us, not the aliens, so maybe they'll never get their hands on that tech at all. So long as we don't let them have it, anyway. Here's hoping.


	11. August 21, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more unwritten journal entries that span the month of August, rip

Col. Wemm's Personal Log, August 21, 2015

Hey, I actually got more than two kills for once, that's nice. It seems so far that the trick is to use something like a rocket or grenade - those don't miss so easily. And I sure do have a lot of grenades, guess I should probably use them more often, huh? Otherwise, I may as well swap one out for a S.C.O.P.E.

I hear the so-called "Psionic Labs" are almost done. After seeing enough squad members get mind controlled during operations, I think it would be fun to turn the tables back on the aliens. Sure, sometimes we can resist it, but honestly? Turnabout is fair play, methinks. I wouldn't have any complaints about getting myself a pet Mechtoid or something during an op. (A face with a devious expression has been doodled in the margins.)

Also, I've gotta say, new appreciation for the Shredder-Rocket one-two punch. Laurent took down the cyberdisc's defenses, and I just blew the thing sky-high. It was a beautiful thing, especially since those things normally take a couple of shots to down. We just took the thing out with two rockets, so the rest of the squad could deal with other things. Plus, there were more explosions, and you'll never hear me complain about that!


	12. September 5, 2015

~~Col.~~ Psi. Wemm's Personal Log, September 5, 2015

*The words in this journal entry are written in a very sloppy form.*

You would not believe the kind of headache I have right now.

Today's been an interesting experience. I'd thought the ten days in the psi labs were going to be bad, but I was barely aware of them. No, the real crazy part was waking up when those ten days were over... waking up psychic. Or, 'psionic', I should say, which is apparently the 'correct' term. Honestly, I don't really see the difference. As one of the first humans with these kinds of powers, I think I'm allowed to say 'psychic' if I want to, yeah?

Annette turned out psychic too, although that came as a surprise to absolutely nobody. The two of us have spent the day so far figuring out how to control our powers. She's a natural at it, though. Just means I have to try harder, I suppose. In fact, that's why my handwriting is so bad this entry... I'm practicing control by levitating a pencil and writing with my mind. It's taking a lot longer than writing normally, and it's a lot less legible, but I could use the practice.

Knowing how often we get missions, I've probably only got a couple of days at best to get ready to use these powers in combat. I'll figure something out though, Annette and I are going to watch some of the old mission logs against the psychic aliens we've fought before, to see if we can figure out how to do any of the things they can do. Except maybe the mind meld thing. That just seems like it would be weird...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More missions after this that I forgot to write up, accounting for all of September and half of October. Joy.


	13. October 17, 2015, 2:13 a.m.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the chapter that I uploaded this for in the first place.

The lower levels of the base were quiet. Eerily quiet. Despite being adjacent to a Thermo Generator, a Workshop, and even the Hyperwave Relay, in the area surrounding the Gollop Chamber all I can hear is my own footsteps. Even those are faint, almost like the room itself wanted to be silent.

The scientists finished researching that device recovered from the Ethereals, the "Psi-Link", as it's being called. For someone with enough psionic power, it should be possible to use the Psi-Link to actually tap into the alien hive mind. To learn why it is they are here. To understand what it is they want. And, most importantly, to figure out how to defeat them.

As one of the few psionic soldiers on base, and as one with the most experience, I volunteered to be the one to try to use the thing. Skinner had volunteered as well, but in the end, I was the one the Commander chose. I was given a suit of "Psi Armor" and a "Mind Shield"... supposedly to boost my psionic powers further. And then, just like that, I was told to head down to the Gollop Chamber.

Two other soldiers escort me to the chamber. Didn't catch their names, but one was from the USA, the other from Germany. I can hear Dr. Vahlen over the intercom... talking about all the steps we'd taken to get to this point, all the things we've faced. It really gives this whole thing a sense of purpose, and importance.

We reach the door. I nod to the German soldier, and he opens the door. There it is - the Psi-Link. I'd seen a picture or two of the thing before, but seeing it person was another thing entirely. Even after all the alien tech I've seen, handled, and become accustomed to during the course of this invasion... the Psi-Link just screamed "other" to me. I'm not even sure if it's just nerves, or the Psi-Link itself specifically doing that to me.

It's time. I take a deep breath, and walk over to it. It's a short walk, but it feels like an eternity. And yet, it's over all too soon, and I'm standing before it. Its glow feels like it's pouring into me, permeating my very being. Almost without thinking, I reach up to activate it, the knowledge on how to do so suddenly in my head.

_"A new type of weapon is required..."_

Images. Thoughts. Senses. My mind is no longer my own. Now I am a Snakeman. Now I am Col. Wemm again. Now I am a Reticulan. For a moment, I lose sense of my own identity in the Link, becoming everything, everyone attached to it. I struggle to cling, cling to something familiar. I am able, after a moment, to latch back on to my own identity, as a human, as a member of XCOM.

And then, the vision settles, and I see a face. I see _him_.

**_At long last... YOU have succeeded... where WE have failed._ **

More flashes. A berserker attacking a man... an empty house, its occupants taken... the Temple Ship heading to Earth. I see its insides. I see how it moves. I see how it works.

I see the Ethereals. I see their schemes, their goals, their plan. No, not see.

I _understand_.

My eyes open.

I understand.

And now, I know what we must do.

It's time we end this war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Col. Wemm died on the way back to his home planet


End file.
